1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pickup devices with an integration of a pickup element and an optical element having an imaging lens and methods of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional pickup device of such type is disclosed for example in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-284617. The document discloses that an optical element formed of an imaging lens and a plurality of legs is arranged on a charge coupled device (CCD) bare chip corresponding to a pickup element mounted on a substrate. The legs abut against upper corners of the bare chip of the CCD to allow the imaging lens and a light receiving surface of the CCD's bare chip to have a predetermined, relative positional relationship therebetween with the lens's focal length taken into account.
Conventionally, pickup devices of this type employ a lens with a fixed focus and to ensure that the imaging lens and the light receiving surface of the pickup element have a precise relative positional relationship therebetween with the lens's focal length taken into account the optical element is required to have a plurality of legs. Thus, conventional pickup devices, having a complicated lens structure and also packaged, are hardly miniaturized.